THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1996 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ****
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is the first sequel to STAR WARS, but
using a bit of revisionist history, George Lucas renumbered it to be
the fifth in the series and STAR WARS to be the fourth. A more
intriguing marketing gimmick I have never seen. For my money, nothing
like STAR WARS could be as good, but THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is
certainly excellent with some characters stronger and one weaker than
the first, but the script is as impressive and innovative as ever.
Over 15 years after THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK was released, I got to see
it anew with my seven year old son Jeffrey.
Basically the plot of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is that the rebels
are continuing to fight the Empire. Darth Vader (David Prowse acting
with voice by James Earl Jones) leads a mission to destroy the rebels'
base on Hoth where our old rebel friends Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill),
Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Chewbacca
"Chewy" (Peter Mayhew), C3PO (Anthony Daniels), and R2D2 (Kenny Baker)
are. In a vision Obi-Wan (Alec Guinness) tells Luke to go to Dagobah
to train under the Jedi master Yoda (Frank Oz).
The movie is an adventure and a comedy like STAR WARS, but THE
EMPIRE STRIKES BACK's main theme is the duality of The Force and the
struggle between good and evil as manifested in Luke and Darth Vader.
Vader reveals a big secret in the show, which was a shock back then.
Although everyone probably knows it by now, I will not repeat it lest
one of the few people to have never seen the movie may be reading this
review.
One of the parts of this episode that I was particularly fond of
the way is that the romantic aspect is more fully developed. There is
a genuine chemistry between Han and Leia that starts off as verbal
sparring, such as when Han sarcastically says, "Fraid I'd leave without
giving you a good-bye kiss?" Leia turns up her nose and says, "I just
as soon kiss a Wooky!" Eventually the ripostes stop, and their
relationship evolves into genuine and explicitly proclaimed love. My
god, they even have three brief mouth-to-mouth kisses!
Ford was immature, but hilarious in the original. In this episode
he isn't quite as funny, but his character is much more central to the
plot. To me this was Ford's movie even if it appeared to be Luke's
story. Overall, I liked Ford just as much as before, but Fisher
better. She warmed up to the part more and was given a more
substantial role.
Whereas George Lucas was STAR WARS, having directed and wrote it,
in this episode he was only listed as the executive producer and was
credited with the story idea, but not the script itself. The director
this time was Irvin Kershner and the script was by Leigh Brackett and
the great screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan (WYATT EARP, THE BODYGUARD,
GRAND CANYON, THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST, THE BIG CHILL, BODY HEAT, and
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK).
The script again is imaginative and full of laughs. Poor Chewy
remains the brunt of the many of the jokes. When Chewy starts
guffawing, Han tells him, "Laugh it up fuzzball!"
Yoda provided the figure that was the fountainhead of wisdom much
as Obi-Wan did in the original. Yoda plays his role like some good old
boy Ph. D. from the south. He looks and sounds like a yokel who knows
nothing, but actually possesses almost infinite knowledge. He tells
Luke, who doesn't know he is Yoda, "Looking for someone? Found someone
I'd say." When Luke is having trouble moving rocks by using The Force,
Yoda tells him, he can do it. Luke responds, "Okay, I'll try." Yoda
gets angry with his pupil and admonishes him, "No, try not. Do or do
not. There is no try."
C3PO still gets some of the best lines. When the going gets
tough, C3 would just as soon give up. When in a jam, he suggests to
his companions, "Surrender is a perfectly acceptable alternative in
such situations." He tells R2D2 what computer veterans know, "R2D2 you
know better than to trust a strange computer."
The visual special effects (Richard Edlund and Brian Johnson) are
even more imaginative than last time. As just an example, consider the
Imperial Walkers. They are essentially 10 story tall, mechanical, four
legged dinosaurs with human operators and laser cannons in the head
portion. The design makes absolutely no sense, but creates a great
visual. The way they lumber along is the piece de resistance.
Watching them was actually my favorite part of the film. My son, I
should point out, does a great Imperial Walker imitation.
The kids learn creativity when they watch any of the STAR WARS
episodes. Consider in this one the dilemma of how to stop these huge
Imperial Walkers. The answer? Why spin a web like a spider from the
fighters and lasso their legs cowboy style of course! Actually, there
are a lot of parallels with cowboy shows and the STAR WARS movies.
I have a single, but significant criticism of this episode.
Although I know they had to do it, I did not like the casting of Mark
Hamill to play Luke Skywalker again. The other actors had matured and
improved, whereas Hamill seems to have gone downhill. Missing was his
enthusiastic and fresh outlook. In its place was someone who looked
constantly haggard as if he were out drinking late every night before
the morning shooting. He was boyishly handsome in STAR WARS, but in
this episode, he had curiously seemed to have lost all of his good
looks, and his energy level was too low.
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK runs 2:04, and I think Paul Hirsch's
editing needed the tighter focus that STAR WARS had. The film is rated
PG. Again, the film is beautifully devoid of foul language. Would
that modern screenwriters would realize that bad language should
generally be saved for R rated films and above. The story has cartoon
level violence although there is one realistic, but not graphic picture
of a hand being cut off. There is no sex, nudity, smoking or drug use.
I think it would be fine for most kids over 4. My son Jeffrey (age 7)
loved it as did his Dad. Even with my above noted one major
reservation, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK still gets my top recommendation
and rating of ****.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film.
*** = Excellent show. Look for it.
** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable.
* = Poor show. Don't waste your money.
0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: April 16, 1996
Have I seen this movie: Oh Yes... Many Times: Both the original
and special editions
And what did I think: As much as I loved Star Wars, I loved
Empire Strikes back even more. The original was a space cowboy
shoot'em up, while empire delves more deeply into the Characters
that we grew to love. This movie is also a lot darker then the
original. Here is where we find out the ultimate revelation that
Darth Vader is Luke's father. We see Lei's and Han's relationship
grow throughout this movie and eventually she tells him that she
loves him right before he is put into carbonite freeze.
That proved to be one ultimate cliffhanger leading to Return of
the Jedi. Luke begins his Jedi training here and meets the wise
Jedi master Yoda. We also meet the ultracool character, Boba
Fett.... even though he was in the scene in the first movie that
was deleted, but later reinstated in the Special Edition. So,
while Star Wars started it all, Empire has the real substance
and makes it the best movie out of the original trilogy. I give
it 5 out 5 lightsabres
Review written May 26, 1999
